Warren Kosoy 
Welcome to the 14th edition of Formula 1 Race Week: Belgium Grand Prix, August 2022.
After a month off, F1 returns to the often rain-soaked, but always legendary Spa-Francorchamps. Spa is a long circuit, the longest on the calendar, with 44, 4.3-mile long race laps. Top speed is everything here as it’s fairly easy to overtake.
Over 7 contenders have taken grid penalties for changes to their cars, which will impact DFS lines tremendously.
Speaking of DFS…
Formula 1: DFS Top Captain Options
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, $18,000
Spa was made for the Red Bull; Max might overtake 14 cars tomorrow, beat his teammate, and lead laps. He will be popular on DK, and I will be right there with the rest of the field.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari $15,000
Carlos starts on the pole and if he can keep it on the track a race victory is very much in play.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull, $12,900
Sergio has been the pilot of the second-best car on the grid this weekend. There is not much to say for Sergio other than he can overtake Carlos at any time, and defend against the drivers behind him quite well. He will be tough to fit in, but worthy of a roster if you can get creative with the pieces around him.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, $17,400
Leclerc finds himself with Verstappen at the back of the pack. Being in the second-best car on the grid, he should be able to follow Max through the field and beat his teammate. Fitting both into a lineup will be tough, but in a GPP it’s well worth it to try.
Formula 1: DFS Mid Tier options
Mercedes $9900
The Merc drivers, Lewis Hamilton $10,400, and George Russell $9400 lead the mid-tier options in my opinion. Mercedes is the 3rd best constructor in the field and Hamilton and Russell should be able to hold their positions. Mercedes does not have much to lose so they tend to gamble more than most teams, with a grid like the one on Sunday, they are worthy of a roster spot or two.
Fernando Alonso, $7000, Alpine
Once again an Alpine finds its way into a possibility list. Fernando starts in P3 and is always a tough veteran to pass. Inspired to show his team how much Fernando has left in his tank, Fernando could easily play spoiler to the field.
McLaren $5300
Lando Norris $7400 and Daniel Ricciardo $5200 for different reasons, both McLaren drivers look like interesting DFS plays. Lando fits into the Max/Charles narrative, starting p18 but has been a top 6 car in the practice sessions this weekend.
Daniel starts in P7 and is accompanied by the likes of Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll. Daniel has a perfect opportunity here to stick it to his soon-to-be former team in McLaren and remind them who he is.
Last, but certainly not least, the man of the weekend…Alex Albon. Albon, $4200 tends to be a staple in the value portion of this article as he is better than his teammate Nicholas Latifi. He still very much is, but the Williams has been the fastest car in the first sector at Spa and Albon has repeatedly found his name in the top 5 in practice this weekend. A word of caution for this play in DFS however, Alex has sharks ahead of him and has the top dogs coming from behind him. Alex could easily lose places, but at $4200 he makes sense.
Formula 1: DFS Other options
Aston Martin $3300
Stroll $4000 and Vettel $5000 make for interesting punt plays this weekend…as well as their constructor. They Aston tends to show up in race pace on Sunday, so filling them in as “last man in” options doesn’t feel too bad. I would like them more if the weather gets bad, it is supposed to be calm and sunny, but Spa is located in the Ardennes Forest which if you’re a sucker for history, you will know how weather impacts this part of the world.
Formula 1: DFS Value 5-point options
Magnussen $4400 Mick, Magnussen’s teammate has looked poor this weekend, at $4400 K-Mag could be useful for 5 points.
Zhou $3200 Bottas missed the majority of practice on Friday and his car looked like it had issues over the entire weekend. If Valtteri retires, Zhou could easily pay off his $3200 price tag.
Formula 1: DFS Constructor options
- Red Bull’s $12,000 Spa is their race to lose, either Sergio dominating from the front, or Max coming from the back, the Red Bull should dominate this race.
- Ferrari, $11,800 Carlos on pole, Charles starting in the back. Identical possibilities as Red Bull and a few $100 cheaper.
- Aston Martin $3300, might be a long shot, but you can do some wonders with a $3000, the bare minimum constructor in your DraftKings lines.
- Williams $3000 just like Aston, no risk it, no biscuit.
Formula 1: Race Week Hungarian Grand Prix DFS overall strategy
I’ll be shocked if the DFS wins feature a lot of duplicate lineups, as this field is so jumbled. We can take advantage in GPPs by sticking to a core group of drivers and rotating around them. Another option is to stick your flag into a race result and build from there.
All in all, Spa tends to be filled with overtakes and weather calls. A rain shower could really through this race on its head, lets’s see what happens come Sunday morning.
If you have questions please feel free to hit me up in discord @tcuz86, or on Twitter @tcuz86. Have fun and thanks for reading Formula 1: Race Week Belgium Grand Prix, August 2022.
